By: Tyler Miller

It’s crazy to think that 2018 is already ending guys! It feels like the year started not too long ago. Because I didn’t really post much about the games that I played throughout the year, I figured now would be the perfect time for me to look back on them and just offer my thoughts on them.With the end of 2018 here, I can say that I played 24 games this year. That’s not as many as some people I’m sure, but that’s a lot for me! I think I played more games this year than I ever have in any year in the past. I feel like that will make this even more of a fun reflection type of post for me to do. Because I have so many games to talk about, I’m going to split this into two separate posts. I was originally going to do it all in one post, but it ended up being really long (about 8,500 words), so I figured it’d be best to cut it in half to make it a bit more palatable for you guys.

I’ll talk about half of the games in this post, and then tomorrow I’ll finish my look back on the year with the final 12 games I played this year. Some of the games in these posts will be ones I reviewed formally, while others I did not, so this reflection will offer two things. First, it’ll give you guys a chance to see my thoughts on games I played, but never actually wrote about. Second, it’ll give me a chance to actually write what I’ve wanted to say about these games for quite some time now. So without further ado, let’s get started and jump right into this!

Gravity Rush Remastered

I never had a Vita, but if I was ever going to get one it would’ve been because of Gravity Rush. The game looked so cool and the demo I played of it in a Best Buy was a lot of fun. But alas, I never had the money to get the handheld system and missed out on the game. Fast forward to this year when I finally got the remastered version on my PS4 and I was finally able to play this game that I just knew was going to be great. It’s always been a dream of mine to be able to fly, so playing this game was one of the closest ways I’ll get to being able to experience the sensation of soaring through the skies or plummeting down at high speeds, only to stop myself at the last second and float in the air.

Once I was able to freely explore the world in the game, I spent a good hour or so just flying around the world collecting crystals to be used for upgrading my abilities. The reason I did this was because it was so damn fun to just send myself shooting through the sky. The camera controls made it a bit difficult to get my bearings sometimes when I was upside down, but I got the hang of it and was quickly flying around like a professional superhero. It was my absolute favorite thing about the game.

Aside from the fantastic flying, there’s a lot more about Gravity Rush Remastered that I like. The characters and story are charming and uplifting. Your character Kat was someone that I fell in love with quickly. Her endless positivity and desire to do the right thing no matter what people did or thought about her made Kat more endearing to me. I didn’t want to see anything bad happen to her at all, and wanted only the best for her. The world itself was also cool and unique as well. I liked how each district in the world had its own vibe and music that set it apart from the other areas. This definitely helped keep the game environments from getting stale and boring to be in.

Combat was also fun. Soaring around is at the heart of the combat, so you’re doing it wrong if you’re staying on the ground. It was annoying though to be soaring at an enemy to land a kick on their weak point, only to ever so slightly fly right over it. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if these weak points weren’t the only way to damage enemies. It didn’t take away from my experience with the game too much though. I have the sequel installed on my system, so I’m excited to start that game up and see how Kat’s story continues.

Tales from the Borderlands

Tales from the Borderlands came out in 2014, so I’m really late to the party with this game, but I now see why everyone has been raving about this game ever since its release. The story is better than anything Telltale has put out since The Wolf Among Us, with characters that you can really empathize with and care about and choices that make a difference in the story. It’s also a better story than any of the Gearbox developed Borderlands games. On top of all that, Tales is the funniest Telltale game ever as it retains that classic Borderlands sense of humor that permeates through every seam in the game.

Bouncing back and forth between the perspectives of Fiona, a con artist who lives on Pandora, and Rhys, an employee of the Hyperion corporation and a major fan of Borderlands 2 villain Handsome Jack, is a fun way to experience the story. It’s cool playing through the same scenario as both characters and getting to experience the different ways that each of them perceived things. One of my favorite characters in the game was Loaderbot. These robots were always enemies when you encountered them in Borderlands 2, so having one as an ally in this game that actually had feelings and wanted to help you was surprising and offered up some truly emotional moments during the game. I wish we were able to get a second season for this game because it was really good.

Shadow of the Colossus

There’s always a hint of doubt when it comes to remaking a classic. Some worry that the remake will lose some of what made the original so great. Others worry that a remake will just end up being a cheap cash grab aimed at people who liked the original that fails to improve on what came before. Bluepoint Games’ Shadow of the Colossus is a remake that manages to avoid those trappings, and emerges as what I feel like is the definitive version of the iconic title. With completely updated visuals that make the colossi even more lifelike than their original incarnations, and a vastly improved frame rate that never chugged on my standard PS4, the game is elevated to a higher level than the original was. I feel like this is the game that the original team wanted to make back in the day, but couldn’t because of obvious technical limitations. Talking about the game here is honestly making me want to go back and play it again. I just might do that after I finish this post.

Bloodborne

I’m going to be completely honest here. I never got past the first level of Bloodborne. Hell, I never even got past the first section of the game that you start in. I struggled HARD with this game, but even though I sucked pretty badly, I still got why the game appeals to so many people. The high level of challenge and skill required in order to defeat enemies is something that isn’t present in many modern games, so it’s a breath of fresh air for a lot of gamers that desire a punishing game. On top of that, you have a very distinct, gothic art style that only adds to making the game feel creepy and ominous. Bloodborne and its other Souls-like brethren aren’t for me, but I’m happy that I at least gave the game a shot and was able to see just what people love so much about the game.

Horizon: Zero Dawn

There’s nothing like playing a brand new IP for the first time. It may look cool, but you’re never quite sure just how well the world will be presented to you, and if the gameplay systems will be fun to play. Horizon: Zero Dawn was an amazing game for me to go through, and one that I wanted to try and explore every inch of. From the very start of the game I was hooked by the story and the incredible world that Guerrilla Games had crafted. I wanted to uncover the mysteries of how the world came to be what it was, what was Aloy’s origin, and I also wanted to learn more about the different cultures that fill the world. It was all so appealing and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Aloy herself is a great character that I found myself rooting for the entire time. She’s strong and driven, compassionate and empathetic. No challenge is too difficult for her to overcome and no person is going to stop her from doing what she feels is the right thing to do. Ashly Burch really did an amazing job with the voice acting for Aloy. All the other characters in the game were great as well and felt like people that had some actual depth to them, as opposed to coming across as just NPC’s that are in the world to give you something to do.

The actual gameplay was addicting and fun, yet challenging all the way from start to finish. Fighting the robotic animals that live in the world was a puzzle in itself, requiring patience and planning before attacking. Finding the right spot to focus your attacks on in addition to using the right weapons could mean the difference between a fight being over quickly, or it dragging on for quite some time. This is especially true when you’re going up against multiple enemies at once. Even when fighting a herd of Watchers, the easiest enemies in the game, if you aren’t smart and careful about how you approach them, you’ll be in for a longer engagement as they’ll call in reinforcements to take you down. I loved it though as it kept me on my toes the entire time I played the game, and it kept me from getting bored with combat. It also added a great sense of satisfaction when I took down a brand new robot through my sheer will, determination, and clever thinking.

I also have to point out just how good the game looks. This was one of the first games that I played on my 4K TV with HDR, and I’m so happy I had this new setup for it because the game is a true stunner. I continuously found myself jaw-dropped looking at this game. The fantastic lighting and incredible attention to detail, especially when it comes to faces, are things that I couldn’t help but marvel over. I’ve yet to jump into the DLC for the game, but I’m definitely going to be doing that next year as I wait for the next full installment in the franchise to arrive.

Far Cry 5

Ever since Vaas stole the show in the E3 reveal of Far Cry 3, I’ve been interested in the Far Cry series but never got the chance to play any of the games. That all changed this year with the release of Far Cry 5. My first foray into the series was a fun one, but the game wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be. For every good thing I can say about the game, there’s something else that countered that positive thing and made me not like the game as much as I wanted to. The first thing I’ll mention is the story. Your goal is to put an end to this cult that’s overrun Hope County by eliminating its leader, Joseph Seed, and his three “siblings.”

The game started off in such a great way, with an opening sequence that’s intense and had me on the edge of my seat playing through it. It sets the stage for an awesome story, but things unfortunately flounder once you start to get into the swing of things in the story. Each time you start to clear out one of the regions that the different leaders control, you get forcibly captured by them and have them monologue to you before you escape and do it all over again. The first time it’s exciting, but after the second or third time, it becomes monotonous and annoying, and I started to care less and less. I also wasn’t a fan of the ending. It just came out of left field and seemed like it was done just to try and surprise you with the events that were unfolding.

Then there’s the world of the game. Hope County is a beautiful place to explore and look at. I would sometimes find myself just staring into the distance sometimes because the rural landscapes looked so nice. The problem is that each region looks similar to one another, so they aren’t that interesting to be in. One region may have more drug fields than the other two, but when that is the one thing that allows the region to stand out from the other, there’s a problem. The only region that actually stands out because it’s different is the mountainous one at the top of the map, but it’s still not the most interesting area to be in.

Finally, there are a number of game design choices that I liked. I was a big fan of how you discovered things on the map by finding items in the world or talking to civilians that you would save. It made me feel a bit more immersed in the world and I liked that I didn’t have to climb tower after tower to discover what was in the surrounding area. That unfortunately gets boring though when each area in the game looks similar to one another. I also liked how the weapons felt, with my favorite being the bow and arrow. The biggest downside with the weapons though is the fact that although there are multiple weapons in each category, every one of them performs similarly (with the exception of weapons in the special category). If you’ve used one assault rifle, you’ve used them all. There’s no reason to buy or use different weapons in a category when the most expensive one is just as good as the cheapest one.

My favorite design choice by far was the Guns For Hire system, which allowed you to bring along one or two companions with you as you go through the world and complete missions. As a primarily solo gamer, I sometimes long to be able to play in these open worlds with a friend, so bringing along an AI companion that was actually smart and would help in a substantial way. I know that people were singing praises for Boomer the dog, but Peaches the cougar is by far the best companion you can have with you. That’s a fact that I’ll fight anyone on.

God of War

At no point in time did I ever think that I would say the following words, but here we go. God of War is potentially my Game of the Year. It’s shocking because although the past games in the franchise were great, they were never GOTY material. It only stood to reason that the same would follow for the newest installment in the series, especially in the same year that Rockstar Games was releasing Red Dead Redemption 2. I gushed about the game a lot in my review so I’ll try to keep it to a minimum here, but damn was that such a fantastic game. Everything from the combat and story, to the graphics and design of the game just elevates God of War to a level that many games strive to reach, but continue to fall short of.

Since I posted my review, I’ve gone back to the game and done some further exploring in the realm of Niflheim, as well as defeated all of the Valkyries. Those Valkyrie fights were tough as hell, but they were a great challenge that I enjoyed. The fight against the Valkyrie Queen took me a day to beat, but the satisfaction of beating her was worth all the stress and frustration I faced each time she killed me. I haven’t gone back to the game since beating her, but it’s stuck with me, and I often find myself thinking about different moments that I had in the game.

Call of Duty: WWII

At first, I was thinking of not putting this on the list because of the fact that it’s not a game that I started playing this year. But then I thought about the fact that things have changed for WWII since it’s launch last year and my review earlier this year, so it made sense for me to put it on here. When I reviewed it, I felt that the game was good, but it could’ve been better than it was at the time. Around the Spring of this year, Sledgehammer updated the game in a way that overhauled the multiplayer for the better.

Unlimited sprint was added to the game, making it a faster game than it was before. The Divisions system was completely overhauled, allowing more freedom when it came to customizing your classes and I was a big fan of that change. New maps also came out too and they were better than the base maps that came with the game. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to spend too much time playing the game after the update because my internet got really bad around this time. The time I did spend with the game though after this update was much better though than it was at launch.

Fortnite

Who ever would’ve thought that Fortnite would blow up the way it has over the past couple months? I certainly didn’t when I first played the game’s battle royale mode last year, but here we are with Fortnite absolutely dominating the gaming industry. I didn’t get to play it too much in the summer because of poor internet, but I did get to play a lot from January to May. Whenever I play the game, I typically get eliminated shortly after the match starts, but I always have fun playing the game. It’s a combination of the game’s playful aesthetic, easy to understand yet tough to master gameplay, and the swiftness with which matches go by that get me to play for a few hours in a row. Sure I may never have gotten a victory royale, but I’ve gotten close. I haven’t gone back to it since about September, but I did enjoy my time with it a lot. The game is still installed on my system too, so perhaps I’ll jump into it again some day.

Batman: The Telltale Series (Season 1)

I had heard really good things about season one of Batman: The Telltale Series when it first came out, but never got around to playing it. It was available for free with PS Plus this year though, giving me the perfect reason to jump into it, and I was very happy I did. Telltale made the Batman universe their own and provided unique twists on iconic characters in the franchise. I also liked how they placed emphasis on the fact that what you choose to do as Bruce Wayne or as Batman can have repercussions that carry over to the other side of Bruce’s life. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good story that was something fresh and new for me to go through and experience, and it has me excited to go through season two and see how things continue in that world.

The biggest con I have against the game though are technical issues. Telltale’s games were known for having technical issues due to their engine, and I never really came across any until I played this game. The frame rate was very inconsistent in the first episode, and in the second episode there were a number of visual glitches.

One example is at the start of the second episode. Alfred and Bruce are at the site of his parents’ murder as he tries to remember the events of the night. As we see things play out, a black mass would cover large portions of the screen, causing me to not be able to see what was happening. The first time it started happening I closed the game and went back into it, hoping that would remedy the problem, but it definitely didn’t. There weren’t really any technical issues after the second episode, so I was able to enjoy the rest of the game free of any problems.

Prey

Oh Prey. This was a game that I thought I would really enjoy. I loved Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite, and the premise was very intriguing to me, so I figured this would be my cup of tea. For some reason though, I just couldn’t get into this game at all. The world was cool and the story had my interest, but the game just didn’t grab me the way I thought it would. To be fair I didn’t get too far into the game. I played for a few hours, but was still at the start of the game.

The game was just a bit too slow and empty for me, and I found myself struggling to make any kind of progress. I just wasn’t having any fun playing it at all, and I feel bad saying that because I typically have fun playing every game that I have. I have no problem playing slow paced games, but this one just didn’t scratch me the way I thought it would. I may try and go back to it at some point because I hate to leave games unfinished, but if I do it won’t be for a while.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Rounding out this half of the list is last year’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. The game takes place after the events of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and puts you in the shoes of Chloe Frazier, a supporting character from past games who was absent throughout the course of A Thief’s End. The game plays just like Uncharted 4, but it was nice to play as someone that wasn’t Nathan Drake for a change in the series. With that being said, I could see a lot of Nate’s personality being channeled through Chloe. It has been a while since I played Uncharted 2 or Uncharted 3, so my memory could be betraying me here.

By far my favorite thing from the game was Chloe’s relationship with Nadine Ross, one of the antagonists from A Thief’s End. They see each other as a breath of fresh air in the treasure hunting industry and because of this, their relationship and how it develops is a great thing to witness as you make it through the story. I would totally be down for a much longer game featuring these two ladies in the leading roles because the amount of time we get to spend with them here is not enough. The story only takes about six hours to complete, but that could be extended by exploring for side stuff. While I didn’t expect The Lost Legacy to be as long as a main Uncharted game, I also didn’t expect it to be the length of a Call of Duty campaign. A length of about ten or so hours is what I was expecting, but the amount of fun I had with the game for the $40 price tag was totally worth it.

And that’s it for this half of the list! I hope you all enjoyed reading what I had to say about some of the games I played this year. The games in this half were the ones that I played from January to about August, so roughly the first half of the year as well. A lot of time was spent in these games, particularly the single-player ones. Tomorrow’s list will consist of the final 12 twelve games I played this year, so I hope you all look forward to reading my thoughts on them! Don’t forget to leave a comment down below telling me what you thought about the games I talked about in this post. I’d love to hear what you guys have to say as well.